Coal community Hanna still waiting for a phase-out plan

One year after Rachel Notley’s NDP government announced its intention to phase out coal power by 2030, communities directly impacted by the move are still waiting to hear how the government intends to soften the blow.

In Hanna, Alta. about 200 of its 2,700 residents are directly employed by Atco’s Sheerness coal power station, and the Westmoreland mine adjacent to it. That number doesn’t include the people who provide contract work to the facilities. With those jobs now up in the air, residents are fearing the worst.

WATCH BELOW: Alberta’s NDP government has promised to provide more details this fall about exactly how it plans to phase out coal power by 2030. As Tom Vernon reports, communities that depend on the resource are voicing concern over the plan.

“It’s definitely going to hurt,” said longtime business owner Calvin Warnock, who has lived in the community since the late 1970s.

“If there’s not a replacement, is this town going to become a ghost town?”

“You throw 200 homes on the real estate market, what will it do to the rest of the homes in our town?” added Larry Stickle, another longtime resident and town councillor. “It’s going to be terrible.”

In Hanna, until they see a firm plan, there remains a lingering concern the government doesn’t fully understand the impact of its decision.

“Without the rural people in Alberta producing the food and collecting the oil and gas and generating the power, urban Albertans are going to be awful cold, awful dark and awful hungry,” Chris Warwick, mayor of Hanna, said.